Almost forgot that it was Valentine's Day today. So I'm hoping that some of you were able to have a good time with your significant others tonight.
Considering that I didn't have a whole lot of time to give thought to what to put up for tonight's articles, I did have one on my Bookmarks tab that I had saved recently which could fit the Valentine's bill tonight. It's titled "Matenro no Koibito" (Skyscraper Lovers) by Hitomitoi（一十三十一）from her 2012 album, "City Dive".
With a nice little contemporary funky beat, "Matenro no Koibito" could probably describe some of the more well-to-do couples in Tokyo having an intimate candlelight dinner in their sky-high condos by the bay or one of the pricey restaurants up at the top of the West Shinjuku hotels. I probably would have settled for a Big Mac set at the nearby Golden Arches on ground level...which would most likely explain why I'm still single.
Anyways, Hitomitoi came up with the lyrics while Dorian provided the melody and arrangement. As for "City Dive", it only got as high as No. 142 on the charts. Rather too bad but I don't think Oricon has scared away the new City Pop/urban contemporary acts from plying their trade, happily for fans like me.
Hello J-Canuck,
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, I have gotten both Hitomitoi's Surfbank and Snowbank Social Club albums but not this one, which got me into her in the first place.
(Summer Breeze '86 specifically)
Dorian was a separate thing which turned me on to her in the first place but I see I really need to get this one.
Hi, Chasing Showa.
DeleteI figure that I'm going to have to get some of Hitomitoi's albums as well. I heard "Snowbank Social Club" is especially good.
I originally saw Hitomitoi and Surfbank Social Club on Youtube. It is actually an official video or minimovie with songs from the album.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/5-02VZeuwK4
The video is absolutely gorgeous both visually and musically.
They got that City Pop "aesthetic" perfectly. It's like the City Pop era never died and carried over into the 21st century.
Then, I saw another video (minimovie) for "Snowbank" Social Club....
https://youtu.be/4psAIZ_VLvU
Just as gorgeous and hit me in the feels because I'm from snow country. Listening to news on television or radio telling us about how many inches of snow fell in the high country. Deep powder? Calling in sick to work and getting up before sunrise to take the long drive into the mountains and go skiing!
So, in the end, I got them both.
After listening to them, I do prefer Snowbank Social Club. Not that Surfbank is inferior in any way but the visual impact of the video really enhanced my enjoyment of the music and just having the audio is just not enough.
I think Snowbank can stand alone without the visuals.